Week in Review

This past week has been anything but normal. We were out for MLK day then I had a continuing education course on Tuesday and Wednesday and it snowed some on Thursday causing school to be let out an hour early. I feel like I still have not gotten into a post Christmas routine yet and it's almost February! Friday night Coby worked late and I laid in the recliner all night. So unproductive. Saturday Coby got up and ran errands and took the dogs to the park while I worked on a Sunday School lesson. I got caught up on laundry and went to the grocery store. I also got started on some baby shower presents. (I'll post about them when they are done.) Today we got up and went to church and I taught Sunday School. Then we went to lunch. Planning on spending a low key afternoon at the house then heading to Coby's parents for dinner.
I am still feeling good as far as this pregnancy goes. My hips and back are achey at times but I figure it's just stretching out and making room for the little one. I can also tell when I think the baby is having a growth spurt. Every few days or so I will be ravenous, eat a good meal, and then be starving 5 minutes later! I'm 16 weeks today. It's hard to believe that in five weeks or so we will be half way there! It is fling by! We have a doctors appointment a week from Friday and then they will schedule a radiology appointment within the next week or so for a good quality u/s. Let's just hope that the little one is wiggly and not too modest. I have been looking at nursery decor ideas. I like the darker brown crib sets but I just keep coming back to the modern looking white crib. I've got some really great ideas for a boy or girl and all of them go along with this type of crib. I have also found some Ikea furniture to go with it. Another bonus is that it is the least expensive option and I feel like the other furniture could be used for a long time. We'll see. I'm trying to hold off on making any big decisions until after we find out if we have a he or she.

In other baby news I ordered a fetal heart rate doppler off Amazon.
And I LOVE it. Some friends gave me other type/brand of heart rate listener but said they were never able to get it to work. I decided to spend a little extra and get a good one. I figured since I have tons of borrowed maternity clothes I could splurge and then share the doppler later on. It is totally worth the $70!

We also made another big purchase. After some research we decided to invest in a new vacuum cleaner. We figured with the baby coming and the dogs that we needed a good vacuum, not to mention the fact that our old one was smelling like burnt hair every time we used it. We decided on a Dyson and got a really good deal on ebay. It came in yesterday and we tried it out right away. So far so good.

P.S. I know my layout and header look a mess but the place I got my old one from changed servers and did not have new codes to my old layout. I don't feel like really messing with it right now and I am debating paying someone to make me a good one. Any ideas or suggestions on who does good designs?
I am still adding to my weekly meal database. It has meal ideas, ingredients by meal, and instructions. Most of the meals are super easy and don't have instructions. Let me know if you want me to e-mail you a copy. I also read about these on Org. Junkies blog. She is giving away one and you have until Jan 27th to enter! It looks like a great project that I might get to one day, one day.

Meals for this week and last:
coconut chicken with side and veg
salmon with side and veg
chicken quesidillas
mongolian beef with brown rice
bison burger with green beans and scalloped potatoes
flat iron with okra and mac and cheese
homemade pizza
chicken and orzo pasta
cod with roasted potatoes and asparagus
blt with chips and pickle

Prego Update- 14 weeks

No belly pictures yet. I still don't think I'm showing yet, just look a little more pudgy than usual. I will tell you I am ready for an actual bump and not just an extra pound or two. My friend Jenny was kind enough to lend me a whole lot of maternity clothes. I picked them up on Friday. I will probably start wearing the maternity jeans for more comfort. I can still button my regular jeans but it's definitely a snug fit. I was lucky enough to feel pretty good during my first trimester. A little nausea here and there and the only two times I got sick was around 9 or 10 at night. Just before bed. Once I was starving to Coby made me a grilled cheese and I gobbled it down. Stating the whole time how it was "the best grilled cheese ever!". Not 2 minutes later was I in the bathroom over the toilet. I will tell you it was NOT "the best grilled cheese ever" coming back up. Other than that though things have been going well. Still having crazy dreams and my hands seem to go to sleep a lot when I am sleeping. But as far as sleep there has been no lack of it. I have never had trouble in that department. For awhile I was getting up at least once a night to pee but have been able to go the past four nights with no interruptions. As for cravings I was was going through a bag of clementines (Mandarin oranges) a week then moved on to Fuji apples. I am also loving baked potatoes and ANYTHING mint chocolate, as in mint chocolate chip ice cream. Yum.
We went to the doctor on Friday. No u/s but we did hear the heartbeat. 156 beats per minute. I need to call next week to schedule an u/s in four weeks at the radiology department for the big u/s!! Can't believe we are so close to finding out what this little baby is!! I keep going back and forth from girl to boy, can't decide. The first trimester has flown by. I have small moments of panic thinking that all this is going by so quickly but I know towards the end I will think differently. I can't wait to feel the little one kick. I thought I felt a little thump and flutter a week or so ago but it's still early so I don't know if that's what I actually felt.

25 weeks
6 days
12 hours
8 min
till due date!!!

Here comes the snow. Let's eat!

So the prediction for the first snow of the year is anywhere from 2-4 inches in central AR starting around 3 this afternoon. We'll see. Part of me wants lots of snow so school will be cancelled but the other part of me knows that those snow days will just be added to the end of the year. We went to the grocery store yesterday morning to stock up.
Meals for the week...
chili
white beans and corn bread
bison burgers with okra and baked potatoes
chicken tostatas and guacamole
spaghetti
spicy black bean burgers in a tortilla with sweet potatoes
I have been a little behind on posting meal plans lately but I have been doing them and we haven't been eating dinner out very often. I try to post meal plans so later I can go back and get ideas or even copy weekly menu during a busy week. Hopefully it also gives you some ideas. Thinking of weekly meals is one of the things I dread most. I am going to try to put together a menu book with recipes, and shopping lists before the baby is born. I think this will make the weekly task much easier. Once I finish I'll let you know and will e-mail copies to whoever wants one. Maybe I'll start on this tomorrow while the snow falls;)

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

It's over. It's done. It was fun while it lasted (75% of the time). The Sugar Bowl. The lead up to the game was fun. The hype, the spirit. It was electric. The game was, well, it was nail biting. At first it was a bad, real bad. Then it got better. Then we had a few attempts to pull ahead in the last few minutes and just couldn't do it. It was dissapointing to say the least. I know it is a big deal that our Hogs actually made it a BCS bowl and we are proud of them for that. I think, for me at least, it's just the fact that I've seen our team play much better than they did last night. Oh well. It's just a game right?

That's about all that has been talked about around here for the last few days. Not much else going on except trying to get through our first week back at school. We have a doctors appointment on Friday. She probably won't do a u/s but hopefully we will get to hear a strong healthy heartbeat and learn when we will get to find out the sex! Can't believe it is getting so close. Happy hump day!

365

I remember people talking about this last year and thought it was a good idea. Then I completely forgot about it until Whitney talked about doing it. What better year to begin than this one so, I will try to participate. This entails taking one picture a day. Might not sound like a lot but for one who forgets to take picture at nearly every important event it sounds like a huge commitment. But, I'm going to try. I feel like this will really make me pay attention to the important parts of my day and make my days seem a little more significant. I might make it a weekly or daily post. We'll just have to play it by ear. Anyway here picture 1/365...

2011

It's officially 2011. 2010 was a good year but I am so excited to see what 2011 has in store for us. Speaking of baby (you know that's what I meant, right). Here are some new baby things.
My parents gave us this Razorback bib for Christmas and I got this monkey at a gallery during an after Christmas sale. I am leaning toward these colors for the nursery if it's a boy.

These are some Christmas goodies my cousin Audrey sent. Love Dr. Seuss!

We went out yesterday to look at baby furniture. I have found a few sets I like but we are trying to decide wether to get am ok set, that I would be happy with, for less, or to go ahead and splurge on a really good bedroom set that he/she will have for a long time. Any suggestions?
Just one more day of break then I head back to work, work, work. Only half a year left though! Well I'd better get cooking. We are having black eyed peas, and corn bread, fried potatoes, and greens for dinner, along with apple skillet pie. Not the most healthy but definitely a new years tradition.